Cosby retrial delayed

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Bill Cosby's retrial on sexual assault charges will be delayed until next year as his new legal team gets up to speed on the case. Judge Steven O'Neill on Tuesday granted a defence request to postpone the retrial, which had been scheduled to start in November, saying there's no way that Cosby's lawyers would be ready by then.

Cosby's new lawyers made their first court appearance on behalf of The Cosby Show star, who has been charged with knocking out accuser Andrea Constand with pills and sexually assaulting her at his home near Philadelphia in 2004.

He says Constand, a former executive with Temple University's women's basketball programme, consented to their sexual encounter.

His first trial ended without a verdict after the jury deadlocked, setting the stage for a retrial.

The judge on Tuesday asked Cosby's lawyers to consider a start date sometime between March 15 and April 1. He said he would issue a firm date once they get back to him.